2.5-year postdoctoral position in South Korean Childhood and Web history 1995-2005
The position
The ERC-funded project ‘Changing Childhoods in the Era of the WWW (WEB CHILD)’ (https://cas.au.dk/en/erc-webchild) offers a postdoctoral position to attract applicants with a well-documented track record in research into the cultural history of South Korea, Korean cultural studies, or related areas. The candidate should be genuinely interested in exploring childhood history between 1995 and 2005 and utilising various methods from history, digital humanities, and cultural studies. The position is 2,5 years (30 months).
The position is based at the Department of History and Classical Studies, Aarhus University, Jens Chr Skovs Vej 5, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
The position is available from March 1st, 2026 (a later start date may be negotiated).
Questions regarding the position should be directed to Associate Professor Helle Strandgaard Jensen (hs.jensen@cas.au.dk)
Qualifications
This position will be part of the core team working on the WEB CHILD project, which is comprised of four junior researchers and led by Dr. Helle Strandgaard Jensen. The team studies, in close collaboration, how the introduction of the Web impacted childhoods in and across South Korea, the United States, and Denmark. The postdoctoral researcher will also collaborate with WEB CHILD’s research partner in South Korea.
The benefits of the position include:
Research
The successful applicant will be expected to contribute to core activities at the Korean-focused part of the WEB CHILD project. Supervised by the PI and in collaboration with the project's research partner in Korea, digital anthropologist Dr. Yonnie Kim, they will work on its Korean-related aspects. They are expected to gather historical sources in South Korea and online from the period c. 1995-2005. These sources include, for instance, newspaper and magazine articles about children and the internet from this period, historical internet guidebooks for children and parents, and, importantly, archived webpages. Additionally, the candidate will conduct interviews with users and producers of Korean web content for children from WEB CHILD’s key period, and collect survey data. The candidate is expected to analyse these sources and publish results independently and in collaboration with the rest of the WEB CHILD team. All publications and written documentation for the project must be in English.
If the candidate is unfamiliar with historical methods, they will receive training in this area as part of their employment. They will also receive training in areas related to the use of web archives. The candidate must be genuinely interested in receiving training in academic areas with which they are unfamiliar. They also need to be excited about working in a team where members all have a central aspect of the research for which they are responsible but ultimately contribute to a project whose main research questions span South Korea, the United States, and Denmark. This means they should be motivated by teamwork in a multilingual and interdisciplinary team that meets on campus every week for 2-3 days during term time.
Key tasks include:
Data collection (with occasional support from Dr. Yonnie Kim):
For the position, you will need to submit:
2) how you see your past achievements fit with the WEB CHILD project (empirically/theoretically/methodologically)
3) what your interests are in terms of working on the WEB CHILD project,
4) what kind of training would you need as part of working on the project (methodological/technical/theoretical).
The applicant’s research credentials and publication record within the field will be assessed not only on existing publications and other research contributions but also on research potential and fit with the profiles of the rest of the WEB CHILD team.
Past research achievements will be assessed based on the applicant’s active research time. We therefore ask applicants to specify any career breaks they have taken (for instance, due to maternity or paternity leave) to gauge their research productivity.
The WEB CHILD project will not cover relocation costs; however, it will cover field trips and conference travel related to the project, subject to the Principal Investigator's (PI) approval.
On the assessment procedure
Please upload a maximum of two publications alongside your application. Only submitted publications will be assessed; a list of publications is not sufficient. As a result, applications without submitted publications will not be assessed.
Shortlisting is used. This means that after the application deadline, the assessment committee chairperson and the appointment committee select the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications has been shortlisted.
Candidates selected for an interview will be given a task to solve in advance.
References should not be submitted as part of the application process, but must be provided if you are invited to an interview.
If nothing else is noted, applications must be submitted in English. The application deadline is at 11.59 pm Danish time (same as Central European Time) on the deadline day.
The faculty contributes to Aarhus University's research, talent development, knowledge exchange and degree programmes.
With its 700 academic staff members, 200 PhD students, 9,000 BA and MA students, and 1,500 students following continuing/further education programmes, the faculty constitutes a strong and diverse research and teaching environment.
The Faculty of Arts consists of the School of Communication and Culture, the School of Culture and Society and the Danish School of Education. Each of these units has strong academic environments and forms the basis for interdisciplinary research and education.
The faculty's academic environments and degree programmes engage in international collaboration and share the common goal of contributing to the development of knowledge, welfare and culture in interaction with society.
Read more at arts.au.dk/en
The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.
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The ERC-funded project ‘Changing Childhoods in the Era of the WWW (WEB CHILD)’ (https://cas.au.dk/en/erc-webchild) offers a postdoctoral position to attract applicants with a well-documented track record in research into the cultural history of South Korea, Korean cultural studies, or related areas. The candidate should be genuinely interested in exploring childhood history between 1995 and 2005 and utilising various methods from history, digital humanities, and cultural studies. The position is 2,5 years (30 months).
The position is based at the Department of History and Classical Studies, Aarhus University, Jens Chr Skovs Vej 5, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
The position is available from March 1st, 2026 (a later start date may be negotiated).
Questions regarding the position should be directed to Associate Professor Helle Strandgaard Jensen (hs.jensen@cas.au.dk)
Qualifications
- A PhD in history, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, media studies or related areas focusing on modern Korean history and/or contemporary Korean culture and society or equal qualifications.
- At least one peer-reviewed article or a doctoral thesis in English
- Fluency in both written and spoken English and Korean
- Ability to work independently and to collaborate in a multi-cultural team
- Genuine interest in working with childhood and web history, 1995-2005.
This position will be part of the core team working on the WEB CHILD project, which is comprised of four junior researchers and led by Dr. Helle Strandgaard Jensen. The team studies, in close collaboration, how the introduction of the Web impacted childhoods in and across South Korea, the United States, and Denmark. The postdoctoral researcher will also collaborate with WEB CHILD’s research partner in South Korea.
The benefits of the position include:
- Pursue visiondriven, world-class research as a team that spans across broad linguistic, technical and historical competencies
- Working in a team that develops new methods in the intersection between history, digital humanities and cultural studies to write an innovative childhood and web history of the 1990s and 2000s.
- Receive newcomerfriendly training in the use of web archives for qualitative and simple quantitative research analysis of born-digital sources by leading international experts
- ample professional development opportunities within the area of digital history, especially in relation to the cuttingedge field of web history
- Working in a team that upholds values such as worklife balance, trust, kindness and values inputs from team members regardless of their academic rank, putting people over product, aiming to create a safe and trusting research environment in which all of its members can thrive
- As much independence and authority over one’s tasks, timelines and processes as the comparative aspects of the project allow
- Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.
Research
The successful applicant will be expected to contribute to core activities at the Korean-focused part of the WEB CHILD project. Supervised by the PI and in collaboration with the project's research partner in Korea, digital anthropologist Dr. Yonnie Kim, they will work on its Korean-related aspects. They are expected to gather historical sources in South Korea and online from the period c. 1995-2005. These sources include, for instance, newspaper and magazine articles about children and the internet from this period, historical internet guidebooks for children and parents, and, importantly, archived webpages. Additionally, the candidate will conduct interviews with users and producers of Korean web content for children from WEB CHILD’s key period, and collect survey data. The candidate is expected to analyse these sources and publish results independently and in collaboration with the rest of the WEB CHILD team. All publications and written documentation for the project must be in English.
If the candidate is unfamiliar with historical methods, they will receive training in this area as part of their employment. They will also receive training in areas related to the use of web archives. The candidate must be genuinely interested in receiving training in academic areas with which they are unfamiliar. They also need to be excited about working in a team where members all have a central aspect of the research for which they are responsible but ultimately contribute to a project whose main research questions span South Korea, the United States, and Denmark. This means they should be motivated by teamwork in a multilingual and interdisciplinary team that meets on campus every week for 2-3 days during term time.
Key tasks include:
Data collection (with occasional support from Dr. Yonnie Kim):
- Collect articles from major newspapers and other publications of high importance for public debates about children and the web in Korea, c. 1995-2005
- Create datasets from various sources (e.g. internet guidebooks, commercials, children’s magazines, web archives) that will help the project study the Korean online landscape for children from 1995 to 2005
- Conduct interviews with Koreans who were 5-15 years old between 1995 and 2005 about their web experiences
- Conduct interviews with producers who made web content for children in Korea between 1995 and 2005
- Participate in making, distributing and analysing a three-country survey on web use amongst children between 1995 and 2005.
- Analyse and publish results from the data collection (may be individual and/or co-authored with a few or all of the WEB CHILD’s team members)
- Collaborate with the technical experts in the WEB CHILD team on the computational analyses (providing domain expertise on Korea)
- Participate in conferences and outreach events
For the position, you will need to submit:
- Proof of English and Korean language skills
- Degree Certificates
- Maximum two academic publications, of which at least one must be in English (one of the publications can be your PhD).
- Curriculum Vitae
- Full list of publications
- A long cover letter (maximum five pages), which tells us about:
2) how you see your past achievements fit with the WEB CHILD project (empirically/theoretically/methodologically)
3) what your interests are in terms of working on the WEB CHILD project,
4) what kind of training would you need as part of working on the project (methodological/technical/theoretical).
The applicant’s research credentials and publication record within the field will be assessed not only on existing publications and other research contributions but also on research potential and fit with the profiles of the rest of the WEB CHILD team.
Past research achievements will be assessed based on the applicant’s active research time. We therefore ask applicants to specify any career breaks they have taken (for instance, due to maternity or paternity leave) to gauge their research productivity.
The WEB CHILD project will not cover relocation costs; however, it will cover field trips and conference travel related to the project, subject to the Principal Investigator's (PI) approval.
On the assessment procedure
Please upload a maximum of two publications alongside your application. Only submitted publications will be assessed; a list of publications is not sufficient. As a result, applications without submitted publications will not be assessed.
Shortlisting is used. This means that after the application deadline, the assessment committee chairperson and the appointment committee select the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications has been shortlisted.
Candidates selected for an interview will be given a task to solve in advance.
References should not be submitted as part of the application process, but must be provided if you are invited to an interview.
Qualification requirements
Applicants should hold a PhD or equivalent academic qualifications.Formalities
The Faculty of Arts refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities (the Appointment Order).- Appointments shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.
- Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.
- Further information on the application and supplementary materials may be found in Application Guidelines.
- The application must outline the applicant's motivation for applying for the position, attaching a curriculum vitae, a complete list of published works, copies of degree certificates and examples of academic production (mandatory, but no more than two examples). Please upload this material electronically along with your application.
If nothing else is noted, applications must be submitted in English. The application deadline is at 11.59 pm Danish time (same as Central European Time) on the deadline day.
Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.
Shortlists may be prepared with the candidates that have been selected for a detailed academic assessment. A committee set up by the head of school is responsible for selecting the most qualified candidates. See this link for further information about shortlisting at the Faculty of Arts: shortlistingFaculty of Arts
The Faculty of Arts is one of five main academic areas at Aarhus University.The faculty contributes to Aarhus University's research, talent development, knowledge exchange and degree programmes.
With its 700 academic staff members, 200 PhD students, 9,000 BA and MA students, and 1,500 students following continuing/further education programmes, the faculty constitutes a strong and diverse research and teaching environment.
The Faculty of Arts consists of the School of Communication and Culture, the School of Culture and Society and the Danish School of Education. Each of these units has strong academic environments and forms the basis for interdisciplinary research and education.
The faculty's academic environments and degree programmes engage in international collaboration and share the common goal of contributing to the development of knowledge, welfare and culture in interaction with society.
Read more at arts.au.dk/en
The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.
Aarhus University
Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/
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Deadline: 01 September 2025
Academic contact person:
Helle Strandgaard Jensen
Lektor
hs.jensen@cas.au.dk
+4527201234
+4587162203
Vacant positions: 1
Hours per week: 37
Number of months: 30
Expected date of accession: 01 March 2026